Sekirei: The Hidden World
by TrueRedDragonGodEmperor
Summary: Minaka thought the Sekirei were the pinnacle of strength. Gods and goddesses descended from the heavens above to bless their world with untold possibilities. Unfortunately for the Game Master, he stirs something that his brilliant mind couldn't contest with, the hidden strength of humanity.
1. Chapter 1: Reflections

Author's Note:

So here it goes. For all that are reading this….I hope you're having a good day. I just wanted to get a few things down before getting into the reason that you readers clicked on this link….the story. As I've never done this before and it seems like general practice to insert a brief note from the author at the beginning of each chapter, I'll attempt to keep to this general guideline. Although this author note will most likely be my longest. The first thing I would like to say is that this is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction story and I've never realized how difficult it can be to create an engaging and well written plot. I'm pretty rusty at writing so my grammar and spelling may leave much to be desired but I hope you will stick with me to the end. I'm sure as I get more practice I'll get better and better. This story is going to be set in the Sekirei Universe, and I will attempt to avoid OC characters. Unfortunately, and I hope you will forgive me but I will have one OC character from the get go. However, I will attempt to avoid making this character overly powerful and flawless as I have seen done in many stories. My hope is that this character will help bridge the gap between the Sekirei and Naruto worlds. Yes….you read that correctly. This story will also contain some techniques and abilities referenced in Naruto.

Be that as it may, I will not have the main cast and crew from Naruto showing up in this story with the exception of the odd flashback. The Naruto and Sekirei timelines in my story will be thousands of years apart and thus we will be dealing with the remnants of the Shinobi world. I'm hoping that this will add an interesting dichotomy between alien and human. Lastly, and probably most importantly….I do not own Sekirei and Naruto. Sekirei and Naruto are the intellectual property of Sakurako Gokurakuin and Masashi Kishimoto. This fanfic is meant for entertainment and fun and in no way is it meant to make a profit. The only thing that I own is my original plot. So without further ado I hope you enjoy the story and please feel free to leave reviews. -If you're a beta reader and are willing to help with this story, let me know-

**Chapter 1: Reflections**

Her breath came in short labored pants. Breathing had become difficult, each rattling breath more difficult than the last. Her vision began to swim...color and definition fading from her world. She was dying, she knew this. Yet she felt no fear for herself. However, she was still consumed with fear and guilt. Fear for the occupants in the back seat of the nearly destroyed car. Guilt because the last words her son would ever remember her telling him was an angry admonishment to be silent.

She couldn't fully comprehend the situation she was in….or rather she couldn't understand what had happened to the car. She had been on her way back to the countryside to transfer her children to the custody of her parents. Something that had greatly aggravated her mother. She could clearly imagine the angry look on her mother's face as she held the phone to her ear and listened to another excuse concerning her grandchildren….why they were being returned to her after just thirty-two hours of being in their mother's custody.

She had attempted to explain the disaster her children had created in her lab. How three months of work had been lost when her three year old daughter had tipped over a beaker of an experimental chemical solvent onto her state of the art mainframe supercomputer. But her mother had not cared...she had not listened. She had unequivocally been told that if she returned the children before the weekend was complete that there would be dire consequences. But she had no choice. She needed to get back to the lab to head the team in there race to recover the lost data. In the pharmaceutical world a delay of just a week could make the difference between a company making millions or having to watch potential revenue slip away because they had been too slow to patent and test their new products.

As the head of the research and development department she fully understood the necessity to work sixteen hour shifts six to seven days of the week. She couldn't afford distractions, not when she understood how much the company was relying on the revenue of their new miracle drug. If they could just get the drug out to market then the tenuous future of her company would all but be assured. She also understood the gargantuan aspirations that the company president had...she had been there during the inception of the company. She had been there when it had grown from a startup located in a dingy basement to a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical pioneer, employing thousands. However, as large as they were and as much influence as they had, they still needed the new revenue to combat their competitors. Many of whom had attempted both legal and illegal means to prevent the company from entering onto the global market. With the new drug this would be a thing of the past and they'd be able to compete on a global scale.

She understood this, her employees understood this, yet her own mother could not be convinced of the importance of the work she was doing. At first there had been a tenuous understanding…..a bitter resentful acceptance that assistance needed to be provided for her newborn son. Her mother had accepted and taken responsibility for bringing up the young boy while she worked to get her feet back under herself. But then, not even a year later, she had fallen pregnant again. To say that her mother had been unhappy was an understatement. Her mother had not been pleased...she had been growing tired of babysitting duties. Not because she had any issue with her grandson, she loved the boy, but because she had had less than ten days free time since her daughter had left her child at the doorstep. Her mother held the opinion that she was spending too little time bonding with her young son and she had been told in no uncertain terms that with the introduction of the second child that this needed to change. She had bitterly agreed to her mother's demands and promised to make time to come and visit her son on the weekends. And for the first few weeks she had kept to her promise, driving the three hours from the capital to the countryside to visit her baby boy. However, as her pregnancy progressed she grew more tired and soon she could not muster up the energy to make the long drive. Her mother had insisted that she go on maternity leave but she had been convinced that such a course of action was unnecessary. _Her child was still young and could be well looked after by his grandmother._

The company on the other hand could not be left to just any individual to look after it. She needed to stay in the city to help with the running of her department. If she was honest with herself the pregnancy was an unwanted inconvenience. It prevented her from giving her all to a job that required her to give two-hundred percent. She could not wait for her pregnancy to be over with. The physical stress and fatigue her pregnancy caused forced her to delegate many tasks to individuals that, in her opinion, were not well suited to the tasks they were being requested to perform. Thus, after she had given birth to her daughter she had thrown herself back into her work. Attempting to quickly reestablish her professional worth and forge forward in her chosen career path. She was not a woman content to sit idle in a mediocre nine to five job. She always strived to be the best of the best and had never had any issues being recognized as such.

Yet despite her professional success she was still unhappy….for she knew that during her educational career she had fallen short of her own high standards. When she entered Shinto Teito University she had come to the stark realization that she was not the smartest person in the room. That honor belonged to the president of her company, an eccentric individual that enjoyed dressing up in a superhero costume reminiscent of seinen ranger shows. That man had been nothing but a thorn in her side. She had been filled with disbelief that an individual so far removed from the norm could have such a brilliant mind. His mind did not work like hers, it did not follow a linear path to a given conclusion. Instead, his thought process was irrational, jumping from fact to fact and yet his mind could take seemingly unrelated facts and pull them together into a cohesive theory or test hypotheses. Furthermore, he was almost always right….something that irked her to no end. He'd bested her in several collegiate competitions. Establishing himself as the number one student at the reputable school while she was denigrated to second place.

When the two had decided to venture into the business world together it had taken much conjoling on his part. She had wanted nothing to do with him, convinced that working together would lead her to the brink of insanity. She was sure that one day he would do something that would annoy her to the breaking point. She was renowned for her volatile temper and she could see herself attempting to push him off the side of a building. The worst part of their relationship was the fact that he was fully aware of her triggers...yet he found great amusement in purposefully setting her off. He enjoyed the rise he got out of her, finding her reactions greatly entertaining. She truly hated him but could not deny the great strides the two could make for the scientific community and humanity as a whole if the two worked together. So she had attempted to push their differences aside for a fruitful partnership. To say that the partnership had been fruitful would not be an exaggeration. The contributions they had made to the scientific community had pushed technology and medicine a full ten to fifteen years into the future.

She absolutely loved her work and there was nothing in the world that mattered more to her. Her desire to leave her mark upon the world; to be remembered as a pioneer, an icon to be looked up to by future generations had caused her to push all other responsibilities to the side. What did they matter when she was saving lives and gaining a reputation in the scientific community as a genius among geniuses. So for three glorious years she had pushed herself and gained a massive following in the scientific community. Dozens of articles had been written about her many breakthroughs, praising her for her commitment to the betterment of humanity. Yet, for all her esteem in her professional career, her mother treated her as a failure. For her mother continuously told her that she had failed in what mattered most. In her responsibilities of being a good mother.

As much as she wanted to deny her mother's words...she could not. Her children barely knew her. When she visited, a rarity these days, they did not greet her as she had seen other children greet their parents. Not with sloppy kisses and joy-filled smiles. No, they greeted her as if greeting a stranger. Hugging her because they were requested to do so by their grandmother. She could see it in their eyes, they truly had no emotional attachment to her. They did not fully understand who she was to them, or the importance of the relationship between them and her. And her relationship would have perhaps continued along this destructive path had she not decided to make a spontaneous and impromptu visit to the countryside.

When she had arrived late Thursday night her mother had been surprised that she'd shown up and even more surprised when she was informed that she would be taking the children for a long four day weekend. Her mother had been ecstatic that she was finally making an effort with her own children. Although, it had been difficult for her to ignore the covert and suspicious glares that her mother kept sending her when she didn't think she was paying attention. It greatly irked her but she remained silent. Instead she amused herself by watching her mother converse with her daughter and son in a childish manner that was completely undignified for a woman her age. She assured herself that she would not be communicating with the children in such a manner.

Although entertaining to watch, she soon became impatient and frustrated with the slow progress of getting the children ready for their trip into the city. She was a busy woman and had a schedule to keep. Frustrated she stood waiting by the front door for over an hour until mercifully all the necessary items and clothing had been packed, an endeavour that had taken far too long in her opinion. _How much did the two children really need? And why was it so_ _imperative that their favorite coloring books be packed? _She truly did not understand her mother's actions. When she'd asked why so many toys and books were necessary for a four day weekend. Her mother had just quietly stared at her not uttering a single word. She hadn't made a sound but her mother's look had spoken a thousand words. She had not thought highly of her daughter for asking her such an obvious and stupid question. That look had made her want to flinch, for it was not the first time that day that she had been looked at in such a manner, and she did not like it.

She'd quickly turned away from her mother's disapproving glare. Busying herself with taking the stack of 'necessary' children toys and clothing to her car. As she made the final trip to the car, to ensure her children were properly strapped into their booster seats, her mother had dragged her aside. It appeared that she could not hold back any longer, her daughter's actions over the last three years having not painted an endearing portrait for her. She wanted to know why her wayward daughter had finally began paying attention to her children. "_Why now? What had changed?"_

The intensity in her mother's eyes had forced her to look down to the key's she was fiddling with in her hands. She could not give her mother a truthful answer. How could she confess that her desire to take care of her children was due to a disagreement she'd had with a coworker earlier that day. So instead, she remarked that she had missed her children and had wanted a weekend in their company. She'd had to force the unpleasant memories from earlier in the day from her mind. She could not reveal to her mother that her desire for a weekend with her children was not completely selfless.

Her mother had not believed her but had not said anything. Instead of pressing her daughter further for answers, she'd turned away and plastered on a smile for the children, helping them clamber into the back of her daughter's car.

Minutes later, after a minor breakdown from her daughter, she was back on schedule. Her children sat sullenly in the back of her car, quiet and upset but thankfully no longer flailing and screaming. She did not understand why her daughter had acted in such a manner. _Why had she thrown such a fuss when she was being strapped into the car seat? _The actions of children were a mystery to her. She truly understood nothing about why they did the things they did. Their actions seemed so illogical.

As she drove, headed back towards the capital. Her mind began to wander and unbidden to her conscience mind the disagreement that she'd had earlier in the day came back into the forefront of her mind. She'd been on a routine check of her staff when she'd come across one of her subordinates sharing pictures of their one year old's first birthday party. Why a one year old needed a birthday party was beyond her. It seemed like such a waste of money. The child would not even remember the celebration and could do little more then gurgle and flatulate. She'd attempted to be diplomatic but her staff was confused.

They'd attempted to explain that the celebration was just as much for the parents as it was for the child. It was a way for parents to show their love for their children and to pick up small tidbits about the things their children liked. They'd proceeded to give examples of how they'd found out their child's favorite colors through the pictures they drew. Or what food they liked by paying attention to what they avoided. When her staff had suggested that she too must have experienced such events, she had grown uncomfortable. Her discomfort continued to grow as her staff asked her, what would be benign questions to any normal parent, but were like pointed daggers to her. "_What were her children's favorite colors? What food did they like? How long did it take them to learn to walk? How long did it take them to learn to talk? What did they like to play and dress up as?"_

As they began to question her. Hoping to break ground and socialize with a woman who seemed untouchable and distant. Her staff quickly began to realize that she could not answer a single question. It became apparent to them that she knew nothing about her own children. As she failed to adequately answer their questions, she had begun to see something in their eyes that she was unaccustomed to. She could see the respect they held for her waning. They were looking at her as a failure. This was something that she would not allow. She'd make sure to figure out the answer to their questions so she'd be ready if they ever asked again. She did not like the feeling of being unknowledgeable and ignorant.

And thus, in her quest to prove her coworkers wrong, she'd attempted to spend time with her children within sight of her coworkers. But one thing had lead to another. The respect that she had expected to see in her coworkers eyes had been vacant. They instead had accused her of being negligent with her children. Questioning the wisdom of bringing such easily distracted young children to such a fragile and dangerous environment. They'd been right, her children had caused irreparable damage and she'd had to leave her work to minimize any further damage they may have caused. Angry, she'd contacted her mother to let her know that she'd be divesting herself from her children's company. Her children did not understand her anger and in her rage she'd snapped for her son to be silent. Taking her eyes off the road for just a moment, a mere fraction of inattentiveness and she'd ended up in her current predicament.

Glass lay everywhere, several fragments embedded in her own body and face. Her eyes quickly scanned the sight before her. Spotting the smoke rising from the vehicle's engine compartment. They appeared to be on their side, the car having taken several rotations and flips to come to a complete stop. As she assessed the situation, she'd attempted to rotate in her seat to check on the children but found that she could not. Her spine appeared to have been damaged. Blood was slowly leaking from her forehead and she could feel her lungs filling with liquid. _Her lungs must have been punctured. _She could not even call out, her damaged lungs making breathing difficult. She struggled to remain conscious but it was to no avail. She could not fight the darkness and the fog that was clouding her mind, the lack of oxygen causing her brain to shutdown. So as darkness took her she could do nothing but hope that someone would hear her crying daughter and come to investigate. She could do naught but reflect on the actions that had led her to this very moment.


	2. Chapter 2: Regrets

Author's Note:

So here is my second chapter of 'Sekirei: The Hidden World'. Hopefully some of you enjoyed the first chapter and decided to continue on with the story. I just have a couple things I want to comment on before we get into the second chapter. Firstly, I know my formatting still needs some work, so I'll be working on it in the next couple of chapters. I appreciate any feedback you guys might have. Secondly, I've got chapter 3 partially written but it may be a few weeks before I get it out. Hopefully it won't take that long. I still don't own Sekirei and Naruto. With that disclaimer out of the way. Let's move on to the story.

**Chapter 2: Regrets**

The smell of blood and sinew filled his nostrils. He could hear the cries of a child on the wind. The infant's screams and cries stabbed like daggers into his heart. He dearly wanted to run to the crying child and comfort it but doing so would be tantamount to suicide. He could not turn away from his opponent. Doing so would jeopardize everything he had worked towards these last six months.

Tracking down his opponent had been difficult, absurdly so. You'd think in this day and age, with the advancement of technology and satellite tracking that anonymity would be a thing of the past, but it was not so. For someone like them, those who lived in shadows, technology was a nuisance but it posed no real threat. Only the especially inept of their kind could be tracked down by modern means.

Unfortunately, his opponent had been anything but inept. No, he was exceptionally skilled and slippery. Even more so since he knew he was being hunted down. Their numbers were few these days and killing each other had been strictly forbidden. Doing so was tantamount to painting a bulls-eye on your back. All others of their kind would shut their doors to you. All avenues of information gathering and weapons access would be gone. This was the only exception, the only time that one of their kind could fully test their mettle against one another, when their leaders had disavowed one of their brethren.

Such an order was rarely given and such a punishment was reserved only for the most heinous of acts. As such, the punishment had only been handed out once in the last decade, his leaders having been forced to disavow one of their greatest assets. A kill on sight order had been issued to all of their kind. However, the number of individuals with the strength and capability to deal with this opponent were few. He had once been categorized as one of their top ten strongest but he had fallen into darkness and jealousy. He'd committed one of the worst taboos...letting his emotions get the better of him. He had failed to successfully complete one of his missions.

A new up and coming child had managed to thwart him and successfully complete his own mission, causing the veteran to fail his. However, instead of learning from the failure and congratulating the newbie. He'd lashed out in anger, killing the youngster on the spot. This had angered the rest of their kind. It was not unusual for them to be pitted against each other given their line of work. Thus, their leaders had enforced several restrictions upon their people in hopes of minimizing their casualties.

Their race did not have the numbers to spare. Once numbering in the millions, with thousands of differing clans. There now only existed a handful of clans consisting of a few hundred of their kind. Thus, it was acceptable to injure and incapacitate each other but it was forbidden to permanently harm or kill one another. Of course, this hadn't prevented accidents from occurring but those were quickly dealt with in a tribunal of their peers. If found guilty of malicious intent or if the defendant failed to appear in front of his peers then the tribunal would most likely pass a guilty verdict and the accused would be marked for execution.

It was a violent and unforgiving system but it had kept them from the brink of extinction. They could no longer allow differences of blood and clan to separate them. They had to support each other and protect the interests of their kind as a whole. Anyone that jeopardized the delicate balance of their society was quickly dealt with. This is what had led to his assignment to track down his excommunicated colleague. He was currently ranked as the eighth strongest of his kind and thus he was ordered to drop all other assignments to take care of this loose end.

The danger a member of their race could pose to the general populace, especially a rogue element, was significant. Not many in this world could match their kind's fighting prowess. The people of the world had forgotten their origins and the abilities that they once wielded. They were now reliant on medicine and technology rather than the old ways, the manipulation of internal energy comprised of both physical and mental components. Having done so, the populace had grown weak.

No longer was it the norm to spit fire from one's lips. No longer was lifting thousands of pounds seen as an everyday occurrence. The perception of normality had been skewed and the world had become weak. Or rather, the human species had become exceptionally weak. It had lost so much of its history. So much of its defense, and so much of its limitations.

Humans could now kill thousands with a press of a button, murder each other with the inpersonal use of a drone. Killing required little skill these days, an untrained civilian becoming almost as effective as a trained soldier given the right equipment. In the days of the past, it had taken skill, technique, and personal power to kill. Even more so to protect a target. It was these skills that had allowed the remnants of their clans to survive and it was these skills that their clients desired. They were not hired for mundane jobs but instead were requested for jobs comprising of espionage, assassination, and protection.

He was unfortunately very skilled at killing. It was the reason that the higher ups had assigned him the task of tracking down their current rogue element. It would not take much more, a few solid hits a few additional knife stabs and his opponent would be down, permanently. He could already see the deep gashes leaking the older man's life blood. See the fatigue in the way he held his body. He noticed all the minute details, the shifting of the body's weight to the rear leg. The slight bend at the knee which prevented total pressure from being applied to the wounded foreleg. The flickers of his opponents eyes as he looked for an opportunity to escape.

The man's energy was nearly depleted, six months of constant running, leaving him a shell of his old self. He was getting desperate, acting the way a beast would act when cornered. It was the reason that he had thrown that last attack. A last ditch effort for a distraction. A few casualties….some property damage and a potential bid for freedom, but it had not worked the way he had hoped. He may have been the older of the two combatants but he underestimated his opponents resolve. It was the one downfall of age and experience, you grew accustomed to people's actions, you assumed they'd act in a specific way and when this did not occur. When they surprised you, you were caught flatfooted.

He could see that his actions had unbalanced the old fighter. The older man had expected him to immediately abandon his pursuit to assist the panicking civilian child. But he had not moved, catching the veteran off guard. As the two combatants continued to stare at one another, they categorize the minute movements of the other. Waiting for an undisclosed signal to continue their ferocious set of attacks. He could still make out the crying child, its screams having grown in pitch and hysteria as the moments passed. He winced internally, it was grating on his nerves, this stand-off. The longer they continued the more likely the child would die. He could also sense the two other unconscious entities in the car. He could feel their injuries. If they did not receive medical treatment soon they would perish, but still he waited….and waited, until the veteran seemed to lose patients.

With a last ditch effort the older man pulled a short sword from the sheath on his back. He watched as the man sprinted towards him, running at a speed that belied his old age. A speed that would make an Olympic athlete jealous. Yet he did not move. He did not take his eyes off of his opponent. He simply gripped the knife in his right hand tighter and in less than a second the man was upon him. A look of glee momentarily crossed his attacker's face as he brought the sword across. A move which would have bisected his head from his body had he not side-stepped at the last moment. With a final grimace he brought his right hand whipping around to plunge the knife to the hilt in the man's esophagus.

He watched to the bitter end as his opponent froze with his hands at his throat. He was attempting to stem the bleeding but there would be no hope of that. The wound was simply too deep. Without a healer or knowledge of the healing arts nothing could be done to prevent his impending death. Too much blood was being lost every second the wound remained. The younger man let out a sigh of pity, he did not like killing. It seemed like such a waste, but he did his duty. Slowly bending down, he picked up the discarded sword. The sword which had fallen from the older man's grip when his hands had moved to his own throat. With another elongated sigh he took a slow deliberate step towards his adversary. He could see the panic in the man's widened eyes.

If there had been anytime, if the man hadn't injured civilians. Perhaps he'd have let the man live a few more moments. But he had to be sure. He couldn't take any chances that the man would survive. Raising the sword high into the air, the sword which only moments before had meant to separate his own head from his own shoulders. He instead used it to deliver a mercy strike to his opponents neck. Cleaving the old timers head from his shoulders and bringing a swift end to his life. The irony of the situation was not lost on him. He let his body go on autopilot and in less than a second, with practiced moves, the body was sealed into a scroll to be used as proof of mission completion.

With his task now complete and his elusive opponent dead. He could now fulfill the desire that had been haunting his thoughts for the last few minutes. With immense swiftness, he made his way to the burning wreckage naught a hundred feet away. As he reached the wreckage, he quickly leapt atop the damaged vehicle. Ensuring, with the bending of his knees that he landed lightly as to prevent any further damage. He peered down into the compartment through the cracked windows. He could just make out a little girl screaming and flailing her little arms and legs as she hung precariously from her car seat straps. With a flash of his sword he cut the door from its hinges. With a further heave, he sent the door sailing away from the wreck, landing some twenty feet away.

Carefully, with all the grace of his kind he lowered himself into the vehicle. Being careful to only place his feet in locations that could bare his weight. It took him several moments but soon he was able to cut the child from the straps of her car seat. They'd probably saved her life. He hated to think what would have happened to her had she not been properly strapped in. He could see the damage that the frame of the car seat had sustained, how the impact had caused it to warp. _No_, he was sure that this little child had only been so lucky due to being properly secured.

With a cursory glance he confirmed that her injuries were light. No more than slight bruising to her ribs and chest from the straps when they prevented her from flying out of her seat. Still, he could not give her a more thorough inspection until he had checked on the other occupants of the car. There were two others, a small boy, maybe a year older than the girl, and the female driver of the vehicle. Most likely the mother. However, the little boy was his main priority. Extracting him would be very difficult. It appeared that the family's luggage and the toys set aside for the children's entertainment had been dislodged from their original resting places when the car had flipped. They had ended up landing on him.

He was currently buried under a small mountain of bags. Surely the damage to his body would be worse than the damage his younger sister had received to her own body. He knew that in order to help the boy, he'd have to move aggravatingly slow. He had to carefully remove each item one at a time, ensuring that his actions and the removal of each bag did not cause the other items to shift and fall on him again. After several tense moments that seemed to him like hours, but was really only a couple of minutes, the baggage had been cleared….having been tossed straight out the hole he had lowered himself through minutes before. A job made difficult by the fact that he could only work one handed. Having no safe place within the vehicle to put down the crying girl. Nevertheless, his actions were fruitful and soon he was able to cut the boy from his seatbelt.

Once freed, the boy slumped lifelessly against the shattered glass that littered the ground. He'd initially had some reservations about simply cutting the boy from his restraints. He appeared to have shifted greatly in the crash, having not been properly restrained in his booster seat. However, due to his lack of free hands he'd had no choice but to cut him free and watch him slump down onto broken glass; almost certainly adding new cuts and bruises to the boys already damaged body. He gave a long suffering sigh and with a little effort he heaved the boy into the air. Bracing the small body against his own shoulder while simultaneously pushing a modicum of energy into his legs so that he could leap out of the car.

Moments before landing, he adjusted the positioning of his legs. Bending more than was strictly necessary so that he did not run the risk of jostling the injured children. Having successfully landed gently, he slowly placed each child upon the ground. Ensuring that each child was laid out flat, attempting to prevent further injuries. He could not hide his worry. The young boys injuries were severe. Any medic worth their salt would have berated him for moving the child without first checking to see if such a move would cause permanent damage to the boy's spine. But there was no time, time was an enemy of all living things and he still needed to check on the female driver of the vehicle.

Quickly, he sprinted to the still smoking front of the vehicle and reached through where the windshield should have been. It must have shattered and broken during the crash. The woman inside did not look good. She had sustained the most severe of the injuries. The other occupants wounds were considered light compared to the damage she had received. Her face was wounded, glass shards having embedded themselves in the skin of her face and neck. Her nose had been broken in at least two places, streaks of blood having leaked from each nostril. Unfortunately, it also looked as if she was suffering from internal hemorrhaging; given that she had blood bubbling from the corner of her mouth.

Blood was quickly rushing up from further down her throat. She must have fractured a rib in the impact, the fragment piercing one of her lungs. There was very little he could do for her. If he'd any knowledge in the healing arts then the situation may have been different but he was only skilled in taking life, not in saving it. Luckily for the woman, she was no longer conscious. The knowledge brought a sliver of relief to him, her suffering would be lessened if she could not struggle to breath. Drowning was not a pleasant way to go and the woman would soon drown in her own blood.

He let out another long suffering sigh. It seemed as if all he could do this evening was sigh. The memories of this night would surely haunt him in the nights to come, but truly there was little use in him attempting to help the woman. With her cracked ribs and internal bleeding, she did not have long to live. That was his professional opinion, the opinion of a killer. The opinion of a man that had caused the death of many.

Still, he hated to do nothing. He could attempt to extricate her from the car but she most likely would die from the experience. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, thoughts of the small children coming to the forefront of his mind. They still needed to have a professional healer look at them. He could have missed something that wasn't immediately diagnoseable from his quick cursory glance. An internal debate warred inside his mind. _Did he help the woman and potentially put the children at risk or did he leave her and prioritize the children?_

Thoughts flew back and forth as his internal debate raged. The pragmatic part of him argued that the woman was a lost cause and wasting time on her was time wasted in having the children looked after and cared for. The selfless part of him, the part that was ruled by his morality stated that he could not abandon a woman even if the chances of her survival were slim. He had to help her! After all…._had it not been his own fault! Had it not been his fight that had caused this? Did he have a right to abandon her now? If he hadn't dodged then perhaps the car would not have been struck and this little family would be safe and sound at their home._

These thoughts plagued him. What was the correct course of action? He would have perhaps stood there pondering for another minute had the little girl not let out an ear piercing scream, letting her displeasure of being alone be known to her surroundings. It seemed that she had done nothing this night but cry. With a final look of regret, regret that stung him to his very soul. He turned his back to the woman and made his way back to the children, gently lifting them and quickly racing off towards safety.


End file.
